Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Astonishing |
AstonishingAdjective1. Surprising greatly; "she does an amazing amount of work"; "the dog was capable of astonishing tricks". 2. So surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm; "such an enormous response was astonishing"; "an astounding achievement"; "the amount of money required was staggering"; "suffered a staggering defeat"; "the figure inside the boucle dress was stupefying". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "astonishing" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Synonyms: AstonishingSynonyms: amazing (adj), astounding (adj), staggering (adj), stupefying (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Greatness | Vast, immense, enormous, extreme; inordinate, excessive, extravagant, exorbitant, outrageous, preposterous, unconscionable, swinging, monstrous, overgrown; towering, stupendous, prodigious, astonishing, incredible; marvelous. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Astonishing |
| English words defined with "astonishing": amazing ♦ dazzling ♦ fulgurant, fulgurous ♦ revelation ♦ The marvelous. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "astonishing": Astonish ♦ stupendous. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | There's never any telling what you'll say or do next, except that it's bound to be something astonishing! (The Maltese Falcon; writing credit: John Huston) | |
Lyrics | Ladies and gentlemen let's put our hands together for the astonishing (Izzo (H.O.V.A.); performing artist: Jay-Z) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | [The reintroduction of acupuncture has made an astonishing impact on Western medicine] / WHO p. Credit: National Library of Medicine; photo by E.H. Niboyet.. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Henry Adams | Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts. |
Margaret Fuller | It is astonishing what force, purity, and wisdom it requires for a human being to keep clear of falsehoods. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish | Douglas Adams | |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | It is very astonishing then what you are saying! |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | Imagination can figure nothing so grand, so surprising, and so astonishing. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Belgium | The market for e-commerce application software such as Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Financial Management, Human Resources Management (HRM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) although currently quite small in Belgium, has been projected by some analysts to grow at an astonishing rate in the coming years. (references) |
Czech Republic | Its leaders, Husak and party chief Milos Jakes, resigned in December 1989, and Havel was elected President of Czechoslovakia on December 29. The astonishing quickness of these events was in part due to the unpopularity of the communist regime and changes in the policies of its Soviet guarantor as well as to the rapid, effective organization of these public initiatives into a viable opposition. (references) | |
Mexico | U.S. exports to Mexico have grown at double-digit annual rates in every year since 1995, culminating in an astonishing 28 percent growth in 2000. U.S. exports to Mexico grew from $46 billion in 1995 to more than $112 billion in 2000 -- more than our 3rd and 4th largest trading partners, Japan and the U.K., combined, and more than double the value of U.S. exports to the entire European Community. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
James Monroe | 1817-1825 | Our population has augmented in an astonishing degree and extended in every direction. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Astonishing" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.64% of the time. "Astonishing" is used about 843 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.64% | 840 | 8,369 |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 0.36% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 843 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
astonishing massage | 13 |
astonishing | 5 |
astonishing create point power presentation | 2 |
astonishing x man | 2 |
astonishing endtimes panorama | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "astonishing"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaans | wonderbaarlik (amazing, miraculous, wonderful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | mahnitës (amazing, arresting, astounding, enchanting, marvellous, marvelous), i habitshëm (amazing, fabulous, incredible, marvellous, marvelous, oddish, portentous, strange, striking, unusual, wonderful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مذهل (amazing, astounding, baffling, bewildering, confusing, dumbfounding, prodigious, spectacular, staggering, startling, stunning, stupendous), مدهش (agape, amazing, astounding, awesome, baffling, dandy, dumbfounding, marvellous, marvelous, out of this world, phenomenal, prodigious, ripping, staggering, startling, striking, stunning, surprising, topping, trembling, wonder, wonderful, wondrous), الذهول (absent-mindedness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | удивителен (amazing, astounding, dizzy, exclamatory, extraordinary, fantastic, fantastical, marvellous, marvelous, prodigious, remarkable, striking, stupendous, surprising, wonderful), изумителен (amazing, overwhelming, prodigious, splashing, startling, stupendous, surprising). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 驚人 , 令人惊讶 (mind-boggling), 可驚 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | udivující, překvapující (startling, strange, striking, surprising), neuvìřitelný (improbable, incredible, past belief, startling, stupendous, unbelievable), úžasný (admirable, amazing, bewildering, glorious, hot, nailing, phenomenal, prodigious, splendid, stupendous, terrific, tremendous, wonderful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | verbazingwekkend (amazing), bevreemdend (amazing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | miriga (amazing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | ihmeteltävä (surprising, wonderful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | ahurissant (astounding), surprenant, stupéfiant (astounding), étonnant (astounding). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | erstaunlich (admirable, amazing, amazingly, astonishingly, astounding, extraordinary, miraculous, prodigious, prodigiously, staggeringly, striking, strikingly, stupendous, surprising, surprisingly), verwunderlich (amazing, odd, strange, surprising), erstaunend, überraschend (startling, surprise, surprising, unexpected). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | εκπληκτικόσ (striking, surprising, wondrous). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מתמי" (amazing, strange, surprising), מפתיע (amazing, astounding, surprising, unexpected). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | megdöbbentõ (appaling, appalling, shocking). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | ajaib (miraculous, remarkable), mengagumkan (amaze, amazing, astonish, baffling). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | stupefacente (amazing, drug, narcotic, stupefacient, stupefying), strabiliante (amazing), sorprendente (admirable, amazing, startling, surprising). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 驚くべき (amazing, surprising, wonderful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | おどろくべき (amazing, surprising, wonderful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 놀라운 (Phenomenal). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | thanvaneagh (amazing), thanvaanagh. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | forbausende. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Papiamen | asombroso (amazing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | astonishingay assombroso (amazing, astounding, stunning, stupendous, surprising, wondrous), surpreendente (amazing, startling, strange, striking, surprising, wondrous), espantoso (appaling, appalling, astounding, colossal, dreadful, fearsome, frightful, phenomenal, surprising, terrible, terrific, unbelievable, wonderful, wondrous). (various references) uimitor (amazing, marvellous, prodigious, startling, striking, stupendous, surprising), surprinzãtor (astonishingly, startling, strange, stupendous, surprising, wonderful, wonderfully), extraordinar (amazing, arch, egregious, enormous, exceedingly, extra, extraordinary, extremely, fierce, marvellous, noble, out, phenomenal, phenomenally, prodigious, proud, rare, rattling, remarkable, special, striking, terrible, tremendous, uncommon, undreamed of, unimaginable, up to the nines, well, well I never, wonderful), enorm (awful, colossal, enormous, frightful, huge, hugely, hugeous, immense, immensely, infinite, massive, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, prodigious, terrible, thundering, tremendous, vast, whopping). (various references) удивительный (amazing, astounding, electrical, marvellous, miraculous, surprising, wonderful, wondrous), изумительный (amazing, marvellous, stupendous). (various references) zaprepašćujući (astounding), zadivljujući (imposing), začuđujući. (various references) sorprendente (astounding, surprising), asombroso (amazing, appaling, appalling, astounding, breathtaking, staggering, startling, stupendous, surprising). (various references) förvånansvärd (surprising), förvånande (amazing, astounding, surprising, surprisingly). (various references) น่าแปลกใจ. (various references) hayret verici (amazing, astounding, bewildering, marvellous, marvelous, stunning, stupendous, surprising), şaşırtıcı (amazing, astounding, baffling, bewildering, colossal, confused, confusing, dazzling, incredible, intriguing, mind-bending, perplexing, puzzling, rum, spectacular, staggering, startling, striking, surprising, twisty), şaşılacak (amazing, astounding, prodigious, wonderful, wondrous). (various references) уражаючий (astounding), дивний (amazing, astounding, bizarre, capricious, curious, freakish, odd, oddball, oddish, offbeat, original, out of the way, outlandish, quaint, queer, rum, rummy, strange, unaccountable, weird, wonderful, wondrous). (various references) lạ lùng (outlandish, queer, stupendous, wondrous), l m ngạc nhiên (surprising), kinh dị. (various references) syn (aghast, amazed, blank, surprising). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | admirabile, admirabilis, mirabile, mirabilem, mirabiles, mirabili, mirabilia, mirabilibus, mirabilis, mirabilium, mirus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Isaiah Chapter 29, Verse 14 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Dia touto idou egw prosqhsw tou metaqeinai ton laon touton kai metaqhsw autouV kai apolw thn sofian twn sofwn kai thn sunesin twn sunetwn kruyw |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Ideo ecce ego addam ut admirationem faciam populo huic miraculo grandi et stupendo peribit enim sapientia a sapientibus eius et intellectus prudentium eius abscondetur |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | I shal adde, that gret wondring I do to this puple, with gret myracle and hidous; forsothe pershe shal wisdam fro his wise men, and the vnderstonding of his prudent men shal be hid. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | Therefore behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even an astonishing work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | For this cause I will again do a strange thing among this people, a thing to be wondered at: and the wisdom of their wise men will come to nothing, and the sense of their guides will no longer be seen. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Isaiah Chapter 29, Verse 14 |
| Cebuano | Busa, ania karon, ako magpadayon pagbuhat ug usa ka katingalahan nga buhat sa taliwala niining katawohan, bisan usa ka katingalahang buhat ug usa ka kahibulongan; ug ang kaalam sa ilang maalamon nga mga tawo mahanaw, ug ang pagsabut sa ilang mabuot nga mga tawo matago. |
| Chinese | 所 以 我 在 這 百 " 中 要 行 奇 妙 的 事 、 就 是 奇 妙 又 奇 妙 的 事 ． 他 們 智 慧 人 的 智 慧 、 必 然 消 滅 、 聰 明 人 的 聰 明 、 必 然 隱 藏 。 |
| Croatian | zato æu, evo, i dalje èudno postupati s ovim narodom - èudno i preèudno: i propast æe mudrost njegovih mudraca, pomraèit se umnost njegovih umnika." |
| Danish | se, derfor handler jeg fremdeles sært og sælsomt med dette Folk; dets Vismænds Visdom forgår, de kloges Klogskab glipper. |
| Dutch | Daarom, ziet, Ik zal voorts wonderlijk handelen met dit volk, wonderlijk en wonderbaarlijk; want de wijsheid zijner wijzen zal vergaan, en het verstand zijner verstandigen zal zich verbergen. |
| Finnish | sentähden, katso, minä vielä teen tälle kansalle kummia tekoja - kummia ja ihmeitä, ja sen viisaitten viisaus häviää, ja sen ymmärtäväisten ymmärrys katoaa. |
| French | C`est pourquoi je frapperai encore ce peuple Par des prodiges et des miracles; Et la sagesse de ses sages périra, Et l`intelligence de ses hommes intelligents disparaîtra. |
| German | so will ich auch mit diesem Volk wunderlich umgehen, aufs wunderlichste und seltsamste, daß die Weisheit seiner Weisen untergehe und der Verstand seiner Klugen verblendet werde. |
| Hungarian | Ezért én is csodásan cselekszem ismét e néppel, nagyon csodálatosan, és bölcseinek bölcsesége elvész, és értelmeseinek értelme eltûnik. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Karena itu mereka akan Kukejutkan dengan pukulan bertubi-tubi. Orang yang bijaksana akan menjadi bodoh, dan semua kepandaian mereka tak akan berguna." |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka sebab itu sesungguhnya Aku selalu akan melakukan kepada bangsa ini barang yang ajaib dan yang mengherankan, karena hikmat segala hakimnya akan hilang dan akal segala orang alimnya akan samar. |
| Maori | Na, ka tahuri ahau ki te mahi i tetahi mahi whakamiharo ki waenganui i tenei iwi, he mahi whakamiharo rawa, he miharo whakaharahara: ka whakamotitia hoki nga whakaaro o o ratou mea whakaaro nui, ka ngaro te matauranga o o ratou mea mohio. |
| Norwegian | se, derfor vil jeg bli ved å gå underlig frem mot dette folk, underlig og forunderlig, og dets vismenns visdom skal forgå, og dets forstandige menns forstand skal skjule sig. |
| Portuguese | portanto eis que continuarei a fazer uma obra maravilhosa com este povo, sim uma obra maravilhosa e um assombro; e a sabedoria dos seus sábios perecerá, e o entendimento dos seus entendidos se esconderá. |
| Rumanian | De aceea voi lovi iarqw pe poporul acesta cu semne wi minuni din ce kn ce mai minunate, awa cq knyelepciunea knyelepyilor lui va pieri, wi priceperea oamenilor lui pricepuyi se va face nevqzutq.`` |
| Russian | ФП ЧПФ, с ЕЭЕ ОЕП'ЩЮБКОП ПУФХ МА У ЬФЙН ОБТП"ПН, ЮХ"ОП Й "ЙЧОП, ФБЛ ЮФП НХ"ТПУФШ НХ"ТЕ"ПЧ ЕЗП ПЗЙ'ОЕФ, Й ТБЪХНБ Х ТБЪХНОЩИ ЕЗП ОЕ УФБОЕФ. |
| Spanish | Por eso, he aquí que volveré a hacer maravillas con este pueblo, maravilla sobre maravilla. Entonces perecerá la sabiduría de sus sabios, y el entendimiento de sus entendidos se eclipsará." |
| Swedish | därför skall jag ännu en gång göra underbara ting mot detta folk, ja, underbara och förunderliga; de visas vishet skall förgås, och de förståndigas förstånd skall bliva förmörkat. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "astonishing": astonishingly. (additional references) | |
| |
"Astonishing" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: astonashing. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "astonishing" (pronounced ustÄ"nishing) |
| 6 | -Ä" n i sh i ng | admonishing. |
| 5 | -n i sh i ng | banishing, diminishing, finishing, photofinishing, punishing, refinishing, replenishing, vanishing. |
| 4 | -i sh i ng | accomplishing, anguishing, brandishing, demolishing, distinguishing, embellishing, establishing, extinguishing, flourishing, languishing, lavishing, nourishing, polishing, publishing, reestablishing, refurbishing, relinquishing, relishing, skirmishing. |
| 3 | -sh i ng | abolishing, ambushing, bashing, blushing, brainwashing, brushing, cashing, clashing, crashing, crushing, dashing, dishing, fishing, flashing, flushing, furbishing, furnishing, gnashing, gushing, hashing, lashing, meshing, onrushing, overfishing, pushing, quashing, ravishing, refreshing, rehashing, rushing, slashing, sloshing, smashing, splashing, squashing, stashing, tarnishing, thrashing, trashing, unleashing, washing, wishing. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-g-h-i-i-n-n-o-s-s-t" | |
-1 letter: stonishing. | |
-2 letters: gnathions. | |
-3 letters: agonists, astonish, gnathion, hoisting, insights, nothings, onanists, sainting, staining, stashing, thionins. | |
-4 letters: agonist, anoints, antings, atoning, gitanos, goatish, hanting, hasting, hinting, hissing, histing, hoising, hosting, insight, isatins, nasions, nations, noising, noshing, nosings, nothing, onanist, saining, sashing, shantis, shining, sonants, staning, stingos, stoning, stonish, tahinis, tannish, thionin, tonnish, tossing. | |
-5 letters: agists, angsts. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-g-h-i-i-n-n-o-s-s-t" | |
+2 letters: astonishingly. | |
+4 letters: homogenisations. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Speeches 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Bible Trace 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
